Horse Racing

Melbourne Cup

The Melbourne Cup is probably the most renowned horse racing event in Australia. It is the horse race event that has been referred to as “the race that stops a nation” and it is also one of the richest racing events in Australia. The Melbourne Cup is managed by the Victoria Racing Club and the races are held at the Flemington Racecourse every first Tuesday in November at 3pm (daylight saving time). The race is run on a left-handed turf course and the latest record-holder in this event is Kingston Rule who won the Melbourne Cup back in 1990 with a time of 3 minutes and 16.3 seconds.

The Melbourne Cup started back in 1861 and back then the distance of the race was over two miles, but when Australia adopted the metric system during the 1970s the distance of this race was adjusted to 3,200 metres in 1972.

The Melbourne Cup is one of the most famous spectator sport events in Australia, with an attendance sometimes of more than 110,000 people, some of whom are dressed in traditional formal race day attire while others dress in exotic or amusing costumes. In 2003, the number of attendees was 122,736.

Qualifying for the Melbourne Cup

Melbourne Cup is a quality handicap for three-year-old horses and over. The minimum handicap weight is about 49kg and there is no maximum weight. Although, the top allocated weight should not be below 57kg. The Victoria Racing Club declares the allocated weight for each horse during early September.

This race is considered a handicap contest wherein the weight of gear and the jockey is adjusted accordingly with ballast to a nominated figure. The older horses are made to carry more weight compared to the younger horses, and the weights will be adjusted further depending on the previous results of the horse. The weights were calculated theoretically in the past in order to provide each horse an equal chance of winning, but recently the rules were changed adopting a quality handicap formula where the better horses are given less extreme weight penalties as compared to the pure handicap rules and regulations.

Weight penalties

After declaring the weights for the horses for this race, the winning horse of any of the handicap flat race of the advertised amount of A$55,000 or over to the winner, or any internationally recognised Graded, Listed or Group handicap flat race, will carry additional weight (if any is required) for each win, depending on what the VRC Handicapper will decide upon.

Fees

The deadline for entering horses in the Melbourne Cup is usually at the first week of August. The primary entrance fee is $600 for each horse. Each year there are around 300 to 400 horses that are being nominated for the Melbourne Cup, but the final field will only consist of 24 starters. After the declaration of weights, owners of the horses are required to declare their horses as acceptors on at least four occasions prior to the race in November. The first acceptance is about $960, the second acceptance is about $1,450 and the third acceptance is about $2,420. Before the race and on a Saturday, the final acceptance fee should be made and this is worth $45,375. In the event that a horse gets balloted out of the last field, the owner of that horse will get a refund on his final declaration fee.

Prize money

In 2011, the prize money for the Melbourne Cup is A$6,175,000 with the trophies worth $125,000. The first ten horses past the post were given the prize money and the winner got $3.3 million while the tenth got $115,000. The distribution of the prize money is such as 85% goes to the owner, 10% goes to the trainer and the jockey gets 5%.

In 1985, the Melbourne Cup became the very first horse race in Australia that had a prize money of up to $1 million, which the horse “What a Nuisance” won.

Winners of the Melbourne Cup